Temples in Patna (पटना)

The temples of Patna

Patna's temples are a city's rather than a pilgrimage town's: they are worked into the street plan, most are reached on foot from a main road, and their crowds are weekday-evening crowds. Hanuman and the Goddess dominate — Mahavir Mandir outside the station and the two Patan Devi shrines in the old city — with Shiva, Krishna and Shitala shrines in the neighbourhoods around them.

The heavy days are Tuesdays and Saturdays for the Hanuman temples and both Navratris for the Devi ones. Ram Navami fills Mahavir Mandir past the station forecourt, and the old-city shrines are best reached early on any of those days, because the lanes close to vehicles long before the temples fill.

Practically, the city's temples are visited around its traffic rather than around their timings: a Kankarbagh shrine and one in the old city are separate mornings, not one. The old-city lanes are closed to vehicles well before the temples fill, so anything at Maharajganj or Chowk is reached on foot from the nearest main road, and the walk is the part to budget for.

Within a short journey there is more than the city holds: Rajgir's hot springs and hill shrines about two hours south, the Surya temple at Baragaon beyond them, and Vaishali and Kesaria in the other direction. Most Patna households treat those as day trips rather than as part of the city's own circuit. The city's own shrines are close enough together that two or three fit in a morning; anything outside it is a day.